Teaching with AI in History Courses

AI tools present both opportunities and challenges for history education. This page offers practical strategies for integrating AI into the classroom while strengthening critical thinking and historical reasoning.

Guiding Principles

Teach with AI, not around it. Students are already using these tools. Designing assignments that incorporate AI critically is more effective than prohibition alone.
Foreground historical thinking. AI can generate text, but it cannot evaluate significance, weigh competing interpretations, or situate evidence in context. Design assignments that require these skills.
Make the process visible. Ask students to document how they used AI, what prompts they wrote, and how they evaluated the output.
Address equity. Not all students have equal access to paid AI tools. Use free-tier tools or provide institutional access when possible.

Assignment Ideas

1. AI as a Flawed Secondary Source

Have students ask an LLM to explain a historical event or debate. Then ask them to:

Fact-check the response against peer-reviewed sources
Identify omissions, distortions, or anachronisms
Write a revised account that corrects the AI’s errors
Reflect on what the errors reveal about the model’s training data

Learning outcome: Source criticism, historiographic awareness.

2. Prompt Engineering Workshop

Students iteratively refine prompts to get better historical output from an AI tool. For example:

Start with a vague prompt: “Tell me about the French Revolution.”
Refine: “Summarize the role of women in the French Revolution, focusing on the October March of 1789. Cite specific individuals and primary sources.”
Compare outputs and discuss what made certain prompts more effective.

Learning outcome: Precision in questioning, understanding of how AI processes instructions.

3. AI-Assisted Primary Source Analysis

Provide students with a digitized primary source (letter, speech, newspaper article). Have them:

Write their own analysis first
Use an AI tool to generate an analysis of the same source
Compare the two and identify where the AI added useful context or made errors
Write a final synthesis that integrates their own interpretation with insights from the AI

Learning outcome: Close reading, comparative analysis, synthesis.

4. Debate the Historian vs. the Machine

Divide the class into groups. One group uses traditional research methods; the other uses AI tools. Both prepare arguments on the same historical question. In a structured debate, each side must also critique the other’s methodology.

Learning outcome: Methodological awareness, argumentation, collaboration.

5. Building a Historical Chatbot

Students design a chatbot persona based on a historical figure. They write a system prompt that includes:

Biographical details and historical context
The figure’s known views, speech patterns, and limitations
Instructions for the AI to stay in character and acknowledge uncertainty

Students then interview each other’s chatbots and evaluate historical accuracy.

Learning outcome: Biographical research, perspective-taking, creative engagement.

6. AI Audit Report

Students select an AI tool and systematically test it on topics in their course. They produce a report evaluating:

Factual accuracy across multiple queries
Representation of diverse perspectives (gender, race, geography, class)
Quality of cited sources (if any)
Suitability for different audiences (undergraduate, public, scholarly)

Learning outcome: Evaluation skills, attention to bias, technical literacy.

Syllabus Policy Language

Consider adding a clear AI policy to your syllabus. Here are two models:

Model A: Permitted with Documentation

Students may use AI tools (such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini) as part of their research and writing process. Any use of AI must be documented in a methods note accompanying the assignment. This note should describe the tool used, the prompts given, and how the AI output was evaluated and integrated. Unattributed use of AI-generated text constitutes an academic integrity violation.

Model B: Restricted to Specific Assignments

AI tools may only be used for assignments explicitly designated as AI-assisted. For all other assignments, submitted work must be the student’s own. When AI is permitted, students must submit their prompt history alongside their final work.

Discussion Questions for Class

What kinds of historical knowledge can AI represent well? What kinds does it struggle with?
If an AI produces a convincing but inaccurate historical narrative, who is responsible?
How might widespread AI use change what it means to “do history”?
What are the implications of AI tools trained primarily on English-language sources for global and non-Western history?
Should historians disclose when they use AI in their research? Under what circumstances?

Additional Resources

Fyfe, Paul. “How to Cheat on Your Final Paper: Assigning AI for Student Writing.” AI & Society, 2023.
Sayers, Jentery. “Teaching with ChatGPT.” University of Victoria, 2023.
American Historical Association. “AI and the Future of History.” Ongoing coverage.
AI Pedagogy Project — Harvard metaLAB resource on teaching with AI across disciplines.

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